Because this week’s question is on the longer side I am not going to do my normal lead in, even if that is what this sentence is. This week’s question is: which shows have you watched recently that were an unexpectedly pleasant surprise and turned out a lot better than you originally thought they would be?

For me the answer is the show that I most recently picked up and also the show that inspired this question: Symphogear.

The main reason I even started watching the show was because Raitzeno would not shut up about how good it was in the AniTAY Chatroom. This raised my curiousity a bit, but I was still a little wary about the show, as Raitzeno was one of only two AniTAYers that I knew were even watching the show, the other being Dexomega. I should have realized this was all the information I needed, so I now repent. All hail the Dex-tatorship.

It took a few episodes, but soon I couldn’t help myself and I proceeded to binge through the first two season and caught up to the currently airing third season in a week’s time. It is really that good. Though I don’t watch a lot of magical girls shows, so this may not mean much, Symphogear is now my favorite of the genre. It is the combination of some great characters, interesting drama, excellent music, cool visuals and a production value that has clearly increased from season to season.

Living up to it’s name, Symphogear not only has some great music, but a lot of it, as music and song is the basis of the girls’ powers. Girls, by the way, that are often deployed to the battlefield via missile. It also has some utterly fun and ridiculous villians, including the first season’s who is a reincarnating ancient priestess that is in love with God and is trying to destroy the moon with a humongous particle cannon. Even that sentence was fun to write. If you even have a passing interest in magical girl shows, you should check this one out. All seasons are currently available on Crunchyroll.